But Councillor Marilyn Ashton, Harrow Council's lead member for planning, development and enterprise, said: "I don't find it ironic that we are trying to protect them. I'm a pragmatist.

"These houses were part of a vision – whether good, bad, or indifferent – of that time.

"It's such a lovely glimpse of the past. I want to protect that from disappearing."

She said that including them in the Tookes Hill conservation area would make it more difficult for builders to knock the buildings down and replace them with "inappropriate developments" like blocks of flats, or for the homes' back gardens to be built on.